Life was good for Sidney and Jeanette. Sidney now worked as a restoration artist, restoring the murals and paintings in the castles around England and Wales. It was a very high quality job and Sidney deserved it. He had worked hard in the decorating trade all his life, climbing ladders all day with his painful, ulcerated legs. He still had to climb scaffolding in order to reach the high ceilings of the castles, but at least he was very well respected now.
A really high point for Sidney was when the Queen came to see her murals being restored. He had to give her a small demonstration of how he cleaned all the cracked and browned varnish off before starting the actual restoration work. Later Sidney laughed and said that she would have had a fit if she’d known what he was using to remove the varnish. He was painting ‘Nitromors’ (which is basically acid) on her priceless paintings!
Sidney bought Jeanette her own little house in a small village in Kent. He converted a large back room into a lovely kitchen for her. They had their dream home, and things couldn’t get much better. Within days of moving in, just about every neighbour had been to introduce themselves to the ‘family from London, who had a bunch of pretty teenage girls’
Sidney’s job took him away from home often. A lot of his work was in Wales and he had to stay away for months at times. He would come home for a weekend as often as he could, but most of the time he could only write letters to Jeanette. He missed his family.
I was about seventeen and working in London when my boss came over to me, solemn faced, and said “I think you should get home as quickly as possible. Something has happened to your father”
It was a long journey home, and I had no idea what I was going home to. The whole family had been contacted and were all making their way either to Wales, or to Kent, and Jeanette, my mother. By the time I got there my mother was already on route to Wales with one of my brothers. My other brother had a little mini-van. It was a tiny van with no seats but us girls piled in the back and sat on the floor. We were on our way to a hospital in Wales where Sidney lay, not expected to live through the night - again.
Sidney had suffered a massive coronary while he was alone. He had crawled along the landing of the boarding house he was staying in, and managed to get to the bathroom, where he propped himself up and dunked his head under running cold water, in order to stay conscious until help came. He managed to attract the attention of the landlady, by banging on the pipes. She immediately called the ambulance.
A large room had been made available, in the hospital, for us to stay the night. We were now an even larger family with in-laws added. We were allowed in, one at a time, to see Sidney. He was conscious but was a dreadful grey colour. We all settled down for the night and waited nervously. The next morning Sidney was still alive, and the next, and the next.
Some weeks later Sidney arrived at his home in Kent to start the upward journey back to health, and his life with Jeanette. Again, he had cheated death. This had frightened Sidney. He was aware that it could happen again if he wasn’t careful, but slowly he regained his confidence and life was good again. Sidney gave up his restoration work, as he didn’t want to continue leaving Jeanette for long periods of time. Now he travelled to London daily as a high class interior decorator.
Their little house was a happy home, always full of people and pets. Children, grandchildren and friends were always visiting. Their home had always been a place where people gathered, and a place that us children were not in a hurry to move away from.
The years rolled by and it was now 1980. Time for another big celebration. Family and friends (Jeanette and Sidney had made a lot of those) all gathered in a large hall, which was decorated with balloons and streamers. Jeanette looked radiant in her long red dress, and Sidney was still so proud of her. At the age of seventy she was still the most glamorous woman in the room!
Halfway through the evening, the music was turned off and Jeanette and Sidney made their way over to the centre of the room.
Sidney took Jeanette’s hand, remembering the time, fifty years ago, that he watched Jeanette walk down the isle of the beautiful 18th century church, to become his wife. Now, on their Golden wedding anniversary, they repeated their vows. The priest blessed their happy and enduring marriage, and their children looked on proudly.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)
I think it suits her. She looks quite cute, don’t you think?
Stumble it!
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